This watchdog blog, by journalist Norman Oder, offers analysis, commentary, and reportage about the $4.9 billion project to build the Barclays Center arena and 16 high-rise buildings at a crucial site in Brooklyn. Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner in 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park in 2014 after the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group bought a 70% stake in 15 towers. New York State still calls it Atlantic Yards. Contact: AtlanticYardsReport[at]hotmail.com

Thursday, February 04, 2016

From an interview with Barclays Center/Nets/Islanders CEO Brett Yormark (who said "attendance since the first nine games is up 23%") by Sports Illustrated's Jeremy Fuchs:

JF: I have to ask about the obstructed view seats. There’s been a lot of criticism. How much have you heard from fans and is there any movement to change it?

BY: Our seating capacity is over 15,700. Within that capacity there’s a lot of great seats. Do we have some obstructed seats? Yes we do. Are fans aware of those obstructed seats before they purchase them? Yes they are. There’s really nothing we’re going to do from a capital improvement standpoint. You can watch the game on your mobile device. The game is on the scoreboard. There are many ways to view the game if you’re in one of those obstructed seats. We aren’t going to be able to change the seats in the building. That is what it is. But there are certainly other ways we can enhance the experience.

Even if Yormark meant people should consult the scoreboard at only certain times in the action, that didn't sit well. Dan Saraceni, on Lighthouse Hockey, commented:

(Also, memo to Brett Yormark: No one in their right mind is going to an arena to watch a hockey game on their phone. Erase that bullet point from your script, please)

As I wrote last June, arena officials in June 2012 said there'd be only 14,500 seats for hockey, of which about 1500 would be obscured. That was then increased to 15,813, then tweaked to 15,795. They're selling a lot more than "some" obstructed seats.